It never got to that point, obviously, as the punishment was overturned as part of the school’s appeals process and Manziel went on to win the Heisman Trophy in his first season as a starter. Not so unexpectedly, his head coach played a role in getting the suspension overturned.

The Daily Oklahoman writes that “the overturn came, in part, because of the backing of Aggie coach and former OU assistant Kevin Sumlin, who wrote a letter in support of Manziel during the appeal process.” According to the coach, the letter of support didn’t come out of fear of losing a starter — Manziel was behind Jameill Showersentering summer camp and wasn’t named the starter until two weeks before the season opener — but rather due to the fact that he was taking steps to comply with the other internal punishment meted out and taking those steps seriously.

“A lot has been said about discipline, but he went through all that, which is a little bit more than people think,” Sumlin told the paper at a golf outing in Edmond, Okla., Tuesday. “That’s not a public deal, it’s just what I ask him to do. He did all those things and his parents were involved in all of that. So for him to go through that, then go through camp and those types of things and earn the job, that’s what’s brought him to where he is now.”

Suffice to say, the overturn might have been the Aggies’ biggest win in a highly-successful debut season in the SEC, but the road hasn’t gotten any easier for the player or the program in the offseason. Manziel has been connected to several mostly overblown “controversies” the past few months, but Sumlin said the fact that his rock-star player is back on campus and with his teammates preparing for summer camp is helping to calm what’s been an offseason full of rough water.

“It’s been really hard,” Sumlin said when asked about the past six months or so for Manziel. “You know, he’s a young guy. And because of that, he is who he is and he’s made some mistakes. Everybody knows that. But right now, I think for him to be back, we have summer school going, we have fall camp coming up. Him being back with his teammates, that’s a good deal, good for him.”

Thanks to the constant tumult, there might not be a person in the country more anxious to get the 2013 season started than Manziel. Well, other than Sumlin and his coaching staff, of course.

Johnny Manziel was a 2.5 star QB out of Kerville Tivy who nobody wanted (except Oregon who wanted him as an insurance policy for Mariotta). He ended up at A&M and got into trouble. He got suspended. He worked his way back onto the team and back into school. He was still a 2.5 star QB with no guarantees of ever seeing the field.

He did his time, Sumlin and Kingsbury went to bat for him with the university. He was reinstated, led his team to an 11-2 record, won the Heisman, beat Alabama, and housed OU by 4 TD’s.

Yes, I would like to take his twitter and instagram feeds away from him, but that does not diminish in any way what he can do on a football field.